Starring: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Houston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson
Director: Wes Anderson
Category: IIA
Under the guidance of director Wes Anderson and his scriptwriting cohort cum actor Owen Wilson, the Tenenbaums are a dysfunctional delight. And, after painting weird and wonderful portraits of life in their native America in their first two collaborations - Bottle Rocket (1996) and Rushmore (1998) - the pair have hit paydirt with this, easily their most complete and mature work to date.
The humour is again wonderfully low-key and the stellar cast welcomes every nuance with such inspired, dead-pan performances that at times you will wonder if the whole thing is not some fabulous 'mocku-mentary' and that this family doesn't really dwell somewhere in deep lower Manhattan.
This family of burnt-out overachievers is led by Royal (Gene Hackman, right), a successful attorney gone wrong. Royal's children are all geniuses who have lost their way. Richie (Luke Wilson) was a junior tennis champion who lost the plot during a US Nationals final. Chas (Ben Stiller) made his mark as a child real estate investor before retreating from the world after a tragic plane crash while the adopted Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) was a nationally respected playwright soon after leaving primary school but, after a series of disastrous relationships, now doesn't write a word.